German Messerschmitt Bf 109 / Me 109 World War 2 Plastic Scale Models, 1/32, 1/24, 1/18 Scale Model Aircraft Kits.

Some more info from Colonel  James Harris
BFW does indeed stand for Bayerische Flugzeugwerke literally Bavarian Flying Works. 
The Me-109 was the best known and most produced German fighter of  World War II. It was the backbone of the German fighter command and ruled the skies over Europe from 1939 to 1941, as Hitler spread his empire over the continent. The Me-109s earned the respect of Germany's enemies in every theater of conflict and were greatly feared by Allied bomber crews during the later half of the war. Designed by Willie Messerschmitt in 1934, the Bf 109 was first flown in September 1935. This prototype was powered by a Rolls-Royce Kestrel in-line engine because the engine that the Bf 109 was designed for, the Junkers Jumo 210, was not yet available. In July 1938, the firm that initiated the design (Bayerische Flugzeugwerke AG), was re-designated Messerschmitt AG, so later Messerschmitt designs often carried the prefix "Me" instead of "Bf."   There's a lot of ways to search the web for the 109 here are some search phrases that can help German airplanes, German aircraft, Bf-109, Me-109, Messerschmitt. The Me 109D, which had the Jumo engine and a two-blade propeller, was the first true mass-produced model for the German Luftwaffe; several hundred were built. Although it was soon obsolete, some D models saw action during the German invasion of Poland in September 1939, after which they were "retired" to fighter-pilot schools

01-19-2004 

From Anthony F Jones

Willy Messerschmidt's 109 was always given the internal German Air   Ministry  designation of Bf 109, in the same way as its contemporary, the twin engine  Bf 110 (which the British also incorrectly called the Me 110). Later in    the war it became the practice in Germany to use the first letters of the  designer's last name as the aircraft prefix code, hence the successor to the  Fw 190 D 'Long nose' was the Ta 152 (named after Kurt Tank, its famous  designer who went to Argentina after the war and continued his  pioneering  jet fighter development with the Pulqui and Pulqui II). Similarly, Messerschmidt's later designs, the Me 210, 410, 163 and 262 etc. were   all Me  prefixes.

Inside the Reich, the official Bf prefix always remained unchanged for the 109. Messerschmitt was brilliant not for pure technical achievement   (the  'blackbirds' cursed him often enough for all those landing accidents and the  pilots cursed him often enough for those unpredictable leading edge  slats, cramped cockpit and rotten low speed handling) His genius was to produce by far the most cost effective defensive fighter - the greatest bang for   the  buck in any World War II front line single seat defensive aircraft that  was  in continuous production before, during and after the war (in Spain, as   the Buchon). Inferior in every way to the Fw 190, it was nevertheless far more simple and much easier to mass produce.   Stewart Wilson, in his   book  'Spitfire' relates how a captured Spitfire VB (EN830) was delivered   to the  Daimler Benz flight test department on November 18 1943. It was  fitted with  a DB605A and VDM propeller from a Bf 109G. Wilson reports that Willy Ellenreider was the first to fly the converted aircraft and had this  to say about it: "Well, this Spitfire was a dream, a pilot's aircraft. It  was my  real baby. I had never before flown an aircraft like this. We were accustomed to the Bf 109's ill manners; bad visibility before   take-off  because the nose pointed skywards, the frightening take-off with the  common tendency to swing, the unwieldy handling during the final approach   and the  bumpy landings...."

Webmasters Note:  I got a real good, close-up, look at a BF-109 that had belly landed at the Reno Air Races.  When Tony talked about the Cramped cockpit, he wasn't kidding.  This cockpit was very small with a very small canopy over the pilots head.  The thought that went through my mind, at that time, was that the visibility for combat situations was extremely poor.  Instead of a bubble canopy, the BF-109 canopy was made of many separate pieces of glass with thin frames that held the whole canopy together.  The pilot absolutely didn't have as much visibility as a Spitfire or Mustang pilot making his combat effectiveness less than optimum.  C. Jeff Dyrek

This fact alone should have earned Messerschmidt the gratitude of the  Reich. Unfortunately, Messerschmidt ran afoul of the German Air Ministry,  specifically Erhard Milch, and was never honored with the Me designation even on the later, completely redesigned 109F through K series, which were as different from the late 1941 E series as the Ta 152 was from the Fw 190D.  No doubt, the Me 210 fiasco contributed to Milch's negative attitude, but  the fact is that the German Air Ministry never granted the Me prefix to any 109 series production early or late.

Perhaps the initial reason for the confusion over the designation of this aircraft was the British intelligence gathered from Reginald Mitchell after  his visit to Germany in 1936. He had seen the prints for the108,  presented as a private venture four seat high speed tourer and naturally discussed air speed record breaking.  For that purpose, Willy Messerschmidt was supposedly (and was in fact) developing a single seat version of that aircraft. Regardless of what the German Air Ministry called the 108, it was presented  to Mitchell as the 'Taifun' (Typhoon) and perhaps Me was added as a prefix instead of a factory prefix which at that time, under the treaty of  Versailles, would have been illegal.

A Bf prefix would have meant  German Air Ministry support and that would have sent up a big red flag.

Whatever the case may have been, the British Air Ministry was famous for  inventing designations - for example in March 1942 it announced that Spitfire Vs over France had been bounced by the new Fw 190H - another non-existent designation. Since, in 1937, the 109 could not have German Air Ministry factory designation (the British are great at sticking their heads  in the sand) it had to have another. The idea that Messerschmidt himself got  the Me prefix rolling with Mitchell is pure speculation, but it fits the  man's character as an avid self-promoter and of course would have been exactly the sort of behavior that infuriated Milch.  The Air Ministry made lots of comments about the Fw 190, its  derivatives  and  tactical applications, many of them wide of the mark. For a verifiable source of data on the 'Fw 190H', it would have been better to say  that  this designation was mentioned in 'The Aeroplane Spotter' dated March 26  1942.  Bill Gunston, in his book "Classic World War II Aircraft Cutaways"  had  this  to say about the Fw 190: "No information appeared even in  "The  Aeroplane  Spotter" until 26 March 1942, when readers were told about 'the new Fw  190H'. This was another of the pointless designations invented by someone in London."

 As a result, the only place that the Me 109 existed as a designation  was in  London and the British propaganda machine. For many years, the only version  of World War II that was heard, seen and read about in England and most  of Western Europe was the British one, along with all the British factual errors and misrepresentations, like the 'Me 109' reportedly having a fearsome cannon that supposedly 'fired through the engine crankshaft'  (actually there were ongoing developments with a cannon firing through the reduction gear, but these never gained much favor with the 109's leading exponents)   Equipped with the DB 603AS  or DB603A-1 engine, the Bf 109G-8, a limited production reconnaissance version of the Bf 109G-6, armed only with a 20mm or 30mm engine mounted cannon,  reflected the full potential of the Bf 109F concept and the RAF had trouble dealing with its intruder missions until well into 1944'.  The  cannon barrel being mounted in the center of the output shaft, firing  through the center of the spinner. The cannon mechanism itself of course, was mounted in the space between the cylinder banks of the inverted  V12 engine. J.H. Clark's wartime drawing of the Bf 109F clearly shows a  20mm cannon barrel with the script "20  mm cannon barrel through  airscrew". Clark's earlier drawing of the Bf 109E simply has the legend "23 mm Cannon" with an arrow pointing at the center of the spinner. Bill Gunston  however  has this to say on the subject: "No 23 mm cannon was ever used by the  Luftwaffe, and although a few E-3 fighters were originally built with a  20mm MG FF firing through the spinner, these were as troublesome as the  previous engine-mounted gun installations had been and almost all were quickly removed in service"  The Bf 109F was initially produced with only the 20 mm cannon firing  through the spinner and two 8mm machine guns fitted with interrupter gear mounted over the engine. With clean uncluttered wings, minimum empty weight   and  equipped with the DB601 engine, it was a brilliant advance in speed,  altitude performance and handling over the 109E. This was the fighter that  should have earned the designation 'Me 109'. Putting the cannon back in the wings in the Bf 109G resulted in more drag and weight than the wing area  could really stand and also resulted in a weaker overall wing structure and lower G limit. Equipped with the altitude version of the DB 605, the Bf 109F  was a superior armed reconnaissance aircraft and the RAF had trouble dealing  with it until well into 1944.

While folks in the US were trying to forget the cold war watching Westerns,  the British watched movies about WW II and how they saved the world (I know, I was part of the scene) All the stuff they produced and misrepresented was repeated and repeated and faithfully cross referenced into other books and movies until it all became like factual history and articles of faith.   The 'Me 109' was part of that. Just like one of the defining moments in the  original Star trek (McCoy turns to Captain Kirk and says "He's dead, Jim"), the ninety minute black and white British war movie's defining moment was often "Look out chaps, Me 109s!"

Sorry Jeff, I forgot to put my name on my letter to you. My email address  actually includes my full name - Anthony F Jones, but I go by Tony Jones and  I live in Monahans Texas. I came out here to be the senior engineer at a vehicle and tire test track, but it went bust and I've been selling  insurance for the last four years. It's fun and I enjoy the change. I am a firearms, engine and old car enthusiast and my reading hobby is WW I and WWII military history in general and aircraft in particular. I'm almost  60  and I've done a lot of research on these wars and heard a lot of first   hand  accounts.   I'm British originally, came over here in 1975 and naturalized in  1991. I enjoyed looking at your website. I used to be a model aircraft enthusiast but don't have the time for it any more. Good Luck.

Write to Tony:  Click Here!

However, *after the war* most of the historical research published in English came from British sources. After all, they were just a couple hundred miles away, they had hauled off most of the factory records, and if they didn't understand something, they'd just pop over to occupied Deutschland and ask someone.  BUT the Brits are notorious for their tendency to what was called "bumf" during the war. That is, they want to know not just what kind of airplane it is, its statistics and performance, but the manufacturer's serial number, where it was made, the user's  service number and the individual aircraft's service history, if they can get it.  Drives the rest of us nuts! 

Just remember: the guys who flew it called it the   "Messerschmitt 109." I've discussed this point at length with some of the top Luftwaffe "experten," and they all agreed.  In fact, in a long and liquid evening with Gerd Barkhorn, I was pursuing the issue of why he continued to fly the '109 even while commanding a unit of "long-nose" 190s. He grinned and said that while the book experts all claimed the Fw. was a better airplane, that wasn't true "in my hands." In other words, he could get the 109 to do things it wasn't capable of doing -- on paper. And that's why he ended the war with 301 confirmed air-air victories and would've had more had he not wound up in hospital recovering from a take-off accident in a Me. 262.
....Gene Smith
This nation operates on the single principle that every man is free to tell his neighbor how to live. And he does.